Word: phouma
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...Geneva accords of 1962 established its tripartite "neutrality," the landlocked, Lilliputian kingdom of Laos has teetered continually on the cliff-edge of chaos. Torn between the demands of the rightist Royal Laotian Army and the intransigent Communist Pathet Lao, which controls nearly half of the country, Neutralist Prince Souvanna Phouma maintains a facade of government simply because he is the only Premier acceptable to both the West and the Communist powers. Last week, when Laotians went to the polls to elect a new National Assembly in the first countrywide elections since 1960, foreign observers from a dozen capitals from Moscow...
...enough to galvanize the anti-Communists into action. They got their eleven fighter-bombers back from Thailand, though the rebellious pilots, Laos' best, stayed behind in Korat. Stiffened, the air force began airlifting soldiers up to Ban Lat Hane to drive out the invaders. And Prince Souvanna Phouma, who had returned from Europe at the news of the air force revolt, appeared at a news conference immaculately dressed in a double-breasted blue suit and white tie to give Kong Le a long-distance pat on the back, announcing that the fiery little general "is still head...
...revolt failed. Premier Souvanna Phouma, a neutralist who might have shared Ma's views, was out of the country. The three prestigious prisoners escaped. And, on the instructions of American Ambassador William Sullivan, U.S. officers from the nearby Udorn airbase in Thailand saw to it that Ma's planes did not leave their base at Savannakhet for the threatened second strike. After a hasty conference with a government representative who flew to Savannakhet, Ma and eleven of his pilots fled across the border to exile in Thailand...
Fiery Tongues. But the right-wing generals who are Souvanna Phouma's principal election opponents had no intention of letting him off the hook. No sooner had he called for Kong Le than they sent the neutralist commander a telegram warning him to stay out of Vientiane or face "our cricket," which "is even more powerful than your dragon...
...river eventually went down without the benefit of atonement ceremonies, but Kong Le was so infuriated at the right-wing generals' interference that he refused to return the eggs. As a result, all of Laos was at the mercy of an infuriated dragon. As far as Souvanna Phouma is concerned, the principal disaster may come at the polls. The Laotian electorate never pays much attention to fiery-tongued orators, but dragons are something else again...